Schumacher regrets Villenueve incident
November 12, 2009 by Negative Camber
Filed under People & Events
7-time world champion Michael Schumacher has stated that if he could change a few things in his career, he would change the 1997 Jerez incident with Jacques Villneuve.
Schumacher turned in to Villneuve in an attempt to prevent the Williams driver from winning the championship and given a chance to do things all over again, he would not have done that.
“What could I change in my career?” Schumacher said,
“I have some moments that if I could have them again, yes I would do them differently – probably 1997 in Jerez. I would have had a couple of opportunities to avoid all this and still win the championship, but you take your lessons and you learn from them.”
He also stated that he stopped F1 because he didn’t have to energy anymore. I think if you pressed him, perhaps Ferrari didn’t have the energy anymore as they saw Kimi Raikkonen as their future; a decision I am still scratching my head over.
“Why did I stop in 2006? The simple matter was I was tired – I didn’t have the energy to continue and I didn’t feel there was any point. I didn’t regret it; I thought it was absolutely the right decision. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve been doing since and I hope I will continue to enjoy it in the future.
“There’s lots of talk about me returning to Formula One. I was very close obviously this year to replacing Felipe, but whether I’m going to race in the future or not, we will see.
“Definitely it was a big disappointment not to be able to come back this year for Felipe; that was the main reason, because I was just giving a hand to the team who had found themselves in exceptional circumstances.
“Driving the 2007 car really felt like driving it – it didn’t take me very long to drive the car on the edge, which was something I enjoyed after being out for so long. It didn’t take me long to feel good and come back.
“I felt I was possibly ready, but obviously there was the neck issue and it emerged that I wasn’t. I regret obviously falling in February, but sometimes life writes the story and you have to deal with your destiny.
“I still love motorbikes; I haven’t raced one since, but we’ll see what happens in the future. I guess my neck by the end of the year or beginning of next year will be fully fine, but I will be 41 – and that would make me the grandad of F1! I’m not sure I want that.”
And waht about the new rules for 2010. We’ve all postulated that the heavy car, tire compounds and aero regulations will present an entirely new set of issues that, while not as egregious as the 2008-2009 ch
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Are we missing a bit of text at the end of this?
Its good to hear MS change his tune on the Villeneuve incident. But I must admit if I saw Vill on the road I would try to run him off it too, get his autograph, then push him in the ditch.
Re the new rules for 2010. It hit home how much bigger the fuel tank will have to be considering most will go from 80L to 260L on average. Thats a big change. Its not like the teams can spend money to make the tanks smaller like they can with other car parts (radiators etc) the fuel needs the room it needs.
And Damon? Michael?
So, Schumi is sorry for the intentional attempt to win a title by crashing that failed. But he’s good with the one that worked. Typisch.
What’s more, he only regrets Jerez 97 because he “would have had a couple of opportunities to avoid this and still win the championship”. So he regrets losing, not cheating?
Love Schumi. I love how he regrets for it, well, for not working. Hahahaha. Makes me laugh so hard.
Apology for 2006 Parkgate should have been on top of the list. Though not at all pardonable @ least in other case he was racing other drivers so those can be marked as momentary indiscretion, impaired judgement, driving at high speed.
Whatever it maybe, Schumi eventually proved who`s the best in the business.A bit of such mistakes make a man a man.I do not think Schumi did anything out of the league of other champions he grew up watching.